Tech war: China’s semiconductor ambitions face moment of reckoning as Washington launches all-out siege
- One analyst report went as far as to say many of China’s chip firms will be ‘destroyed, damaged, or circumscribed’ by the latest US export controls
- One immediate response may be to seek leniency from the US through compliance, particularly for the 31 companies added to the unverified list

The sweeping chip technology export controls imposed on China by the US are being viewed by some Chinese as the modern day equivalent of the Soviet Union’s withdrawal of technical support for Mao Zedong’s efforts to build the A-bomb.
After a severe political split between the two communist countries, Moscow ordered its nuclear scientists to leave China in 1960. However, it was only a temporary setback for Mao, as China conducted its first successful A-bomb detonation in 1964.
Will the Chinese semiconductor industry be able to recover from a similar shock inflicted by the Biden administration, including a restriction on “US persons” working on advanced chip projects in China?
In a 139-page document issued on October 7, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) under the US Department of Commerce updated restrictions on China’s ability to acquire high-end US chip technology, equipment and even talent.
Unlike previous sanctions targeting specific companies like Huawei Technologies Co and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), or rules that banned the export of specific chips from US suppliers such as Nvidia, the updated export control measures have seemingly left no stone unturned.